Whenever you print photos be sure to only use acid and lignin free paper. This will keep your photos lasting longer. It will mean that your photos will not be eaten away at by acid or lignin.

If you do any scrapbooking use acid and lignin free photo corners, embellishments, etc.

Use acid and lignin free backings and boxes for storage as well.

Use uncoated pure polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyester plastics that do not damage photographs. Archival quality materials such as these are available from photographic suppliers and online retailers. If you use the cheaper stuff, you will regret it later.

If you want to make sure that you preserve your prints well, be sure to handle prints only along the edges.

Besides just the boxes you put your photos on you also want to make sure you choose enameled metal shelves or cabinets for storing your photographs, if at all possible.

If you can help it, avoid wood, particleboard, or press-board shelves and cabinets, which can release damaging acidic fumes into your photo collection. This could ruin them.

Store negatives and transparencies in the same materials as photographic prints. You want to make sure that you keep them all taken care of and preserve them all.

Store groups that are similar together. Photos of the same type are usually safe to store together, and can not damage each other. So, store them together and they can touch and not damage each other.

Don'ts:

Do not use photo albums with adhesive backing. This can eat away at the photos and can discolor them. The adhesive backing will yellow and can turn your photos yellow as well. The adhesive can also harden, which can leave residue on the photos, and make them hard to remove from wherever they are placed, so you will not want to move them.

Do not use PVC products, glassine, colored paper, or kraft paper for photographic storage or mounting. It does not matter what it looks like, or if you want to make a scrapbook, buy the right materials, and leave the kraft paper at home for kiddie projects. These materials generate acid, this can cause your photos to fade. It can also cause your photos to get brittle. A lot of times, these products have inks and dyes that may bleed and stain your photos.

Do not use rubber bands to secure photos, whether together, or with the box. Rubber bands have sulfur in them, and photos have silver in them. These two do not combine well, and the result is ruined photos.

Don't store photos in envelopes, the adhesive can cause staining and fading. This of course is not good, and can ruin your photos.

Don't write on photographs. A lot of people think that they should write dates, names, etc. on the back of photos. However, writing on photos is not a good idea. If you are going to write on a photo, use an archival pen or marker that won't bleed through or rub off. You can use a pencil but if you do press lightly.

Don't remove valuable photos from albums, as they can be ruined. Even if the photos are fading, this could cause them to be damaged, and can ruin them. Instead just scan the photos and print new copies.

Do not overstuff your boxes of photographs, also, do not under fill boxes, this can cause photographic paper to curl and slump. This is not good.

Last but not least, edit your photo collections regularly, and weed out the photos that are not so great. Do not store them, and you will see that over time you will enjoy having a smaller collection of good photos instead of bad photos.

For digital images, be sure to store them first on your memory card, then make a backup on your computer, however, do not just trust your computer hard drive, those things go bad. Also be sure to store your digital images on CDs, on DVDs, and look into online storage